Happy October! Have I already said that? I know it's the middle of October, but this past week has been filled with chilly weather, blustering winds, rain, and falling leaves. It finally feels like autumn has arrived! I've had the windows open to let the brisk coolness and natural autumn scents fill our house and it is so wonderful. These are some of my favorite days! This is actually the first autumn since we bought this house that I've been able to have all our windows open. We got the last of the new windows installed and to have screens in all the windows has been glorious! I can finally let all the wonderful seasonal goodness in without the plethora of insects accepting the invitation too.

Anyway, this week's maple recipes look so good. They come from the Alice Bradley Menu-Cook-Book from 1944. I want to try both of these - Maple Tapioca Cream and Maple Sugar Diamonds. I love tapioca, and this recipe looks amazing. Since I'm used to rich, thick, creamy modern tapioca, I'm not a fan of the vintage tapioca with beaten egg whites mixed in. It's just a weird, fluffy texture. So, when I make it, I might just leave that out.

The Maple Sugar Diamonds look really intriguing, especially with the combination of ginger and maple. This recipe might be a good one to make with my kids. I bought some maple sugar, so I'm all set! I'll post pictures when I get these made!

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It's here!!! The Wartime Rationing Menu Challenge has finally arrived!
Are you as thrilled as I am? I've been working steadily on this project for two months - trying out test recipes, choosing menus for the next six months, typing everything up, formatting and getting it ready to share. It's been a lot of work, but I'm so excited to share these recipes with you all. It's been hard not to get cooking already!
So, are you ready?

First up, I want to put in a disclaimer. I'm starting this ration menu challenge, and I'm going to follow it the best I can, but I'm just like you - busy with life and all the little moments of chaos that come up when they're the least expected. This isn't a hardcore challenge. Remember that it's for fun, for learning about a cool era of historical cooking in America, and to get yourself into your kitchen trying out some new recipes! If you find some fabulous new favorites, even better.

Grapefruit
Cooked Cereal
Fluffy Omelet
Whole Wheat Toast
Coffee/Malted Milk
I kept it mostly the same with only a few changes due to what we had on hand:
Orange slices
Cooked 10-grain cereal
Fluffy Omelet
Bread w/ a bit of butter
Coffee substitute (Teaccino)
Yum! It was a nice breakfast, especially since it wasn't just cold cereal. To make the fluffy omelet, I didn't follow a recipe. I just added some milk to the scrambled eggs which makes it fluffy as it slowly cooks. And I sprinkled a bit of cheese on top.

LUNCH
The lunch menu was quite lovely! We actually had it for a light supper.
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Berry Patch Salad
Toasted Muffins
Tea/Milk
I stuck to this menu, and used a recipe for the soup from one of my wartime cookbooks. It used a mixture of milk and evaporated milk. I used up some light …

If ever there was a myth about history it would be this: Things were dirt cheap back then.

Were they really?
And this is where I rub my hands together and cackle with geeky glee. Just like we shouldn't judge our ancestors solely based on current standards and social norms, we shouldn't judge prices of yesteryear by today's dollar value.

I'll give you some examples.

(And don't worry. I'm not going to get super technical or get all crazy on the math, because Math is not my strongest subject. I'll fully admit I got my math-savvy husband to help me remember the equations I learned from my college economics class.)

I was looking in one of my Health-for-Victory meal planning guide from 1943. They stated that if you followed their meal plan, you could expect to spend between $14 - $16 a week on groceries. You're probably thinking, WOW! I'd love to pay $14/week for groceries! But what's the value of 1943's $14 in our current year of 2015?